Ekiti State government has banned a planned three-day kissing marathon, tagged 'kiss-a-thorn' to set the Guinness World Record in the state.

A group identified as Sugartee in an advert making the rounds in the state and social media had scheduled July 7 for the commencement of the longest world kissing marathon in a popular amusement park in the state capital.

However, the state government through a letter dated July 3, 2023, from the Ministry of Arts and Culture and addressed to the Ekiti State Hoteliers Association while announcing the ban on the scheduled competition said any facility that hosted the event would be severely sanctioned.

The letter signed by the Director of Tourism Adebanji Adelusi on behalf of the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dele Ogunsemoyin noted that the planned event tagged ‘Kiss-a-thon ‘ was capable of denigrating the image of the state.

According to the government, the planned event is not only absurd, unhealthy and immoral, it runs counter to the values of the people of the state.

It reads, “Kiss-a-thon” as an event is not only absurd, unhealthy, immoral and capable of denigrating the image of the state, it is a programme that runs counter to the values of the people of the state and therefore capable of plunging our Youths morally backwards.

"In view of the foregoing, the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism hereby prohibits the hosting of such event or any other events like it in any facility that wishes to continue to operate lawfully in Ekiti State.

"To the above, you are hereby requested to convey the content of this Notice to the members of Ekiti State Hoteliers’ Association to effectively monitor their outlets against being used negatively to cause embarrassment to the Government and People of Ekiti State.”

It would be recalled that Damilola Adeparusi popularly called Chef Dammy had a few weeks ago concluded a 120-hour cooking marathon in Ilupeju-Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of the state.

Adeparusi had said that the cooking was not targeted at breaking the world record currently held by another Nigeria Chef, Hilda Bacci.

She would later upload her records for the Guiness World Record review.

At the moment, one Adeola Adeyeye, identified as Chef DEO in Ile-Oluji, Ondo state is attempting to set a longest world cooking marathon of 150 hours.

Since Hilda Bacci came on limelight for the world records, many Nigerians have attempted different records which appears like abuse of the process.